HEARD a whisper Walcha Central School teacher Georgie Macdiarmid was driving to school recently when she decided to eat one of the hard-boiled eggs she had prepared before leaving home. The musical director of the school production Dr Seussical cracked the egg on the steering wheel of her car and immediately found out the egg wasn’t hard-boiled at all. Suddenly, she had a slight mess in her lap. EARLIER in the week, urban works supervisor Stephen Sweeney approached me with a parcel addressed to me at the pool, but when i opened the wrapper bag, found an empty padded bag inside with a note from the Cancer Council. BEFORE reading the note, Steph told me to pull the bag apart because there was definitely something in it and not to pussyfoot around like a girl and get into it. When I ripped the bag apart, all the padding fell out and then, when I read the letter accompanying the bag, the request was to send some discontinued Sun Sound equipment back to the department in the bag provided. And did the Golden Haired Wonder Child think that was funny. EARLY last week, when quizzed about my selection in the Melbourne Cup by much-better half Linda and son Ben, the reply was Cross Counter of course, due to our surname. That was on Monday evening, and by Tuesday, nothing had changed except for one little thing. AROUND 2.45pm on Tuesday, just before the “race that stops the nation” jumped, water and sewer operator Ron Partridge called in at the pool and mentioned something about the Melbourne Cup. Immediately, I realised the great race had been forgotten, and it was now too late to get a bet on. WHEN Ben arrived home from work, he strolled through the back door looking slightly excited and asked me how much I had won, which prompted the reply, “Don’t start – I forgot to have a bet”. His counter-reply was, “Don’t worry, I picked up $150”, which made the whole situation so much better. LUCKILY, things improved last Saturday when I invested a few dollars on Santa Ana Lane in race 7 at Flemington. That was for no other reason than a lovely young lady by the name of Anna Lane works in the engineering department of Walcha Council. Santa Ana Lane snuck home and paid a healthy dividend. DURING recent times, Andrew “the Chocolate Frogman” Kerr was sitting at the bar in the Apsley Arms Hotel when a nearby unattended phone rung just down from where he was seated. Quick as a flash, Chocy’s immediate response was, “Don’t worry, that will be Coog trying to find his phone”. He was spot on – I had left it there shortly beforehand and then headed home. WHEN my youngest sister Jayne told me she had broken one of her toes after kicking herself in her crutch, my immedate reaction was that I didn’t think she was quite that flexible. As it turned out, the crutch Jayne was talking about was one of those ones you put under your arm to assist with balance. LOCAL car salesman Peter Norbury had a bit of trouble getting into his car in Pakington Street last week. Apparently, Pete had been deep in conversation with someone and when the yarn terminated, he must have still been focussed on the content of the conversation because he attempted to climb into the vehicle of Linmac Engineering chief executive officer John Cross, and not his own. ONE of Walcha Council’s newest recruits, Deon Lawrence, found himself “batless" the other day while carrying out traffic control duties along the Oxley Highway. While putting up the appropriate warning signs, supervisor Peter Griffiths placed a “stop/slow” bat around the area of road “Longhandle” was going to be operating from. BEFORE commencing his traffic control duties, “Longhandle” drove Pete to another part of the job but, on return, he was unable to locate his bat and mentioned the fact to his offsider Chris Green at the other end of the traffic job by walkie-talkie. Shortly after that, Pete arrived back to assist “Longhandle” locate the elusive bat and everyone lived happily ever after. LAST week, a touring team of Karauh lawn bowlers called in at Walcha to roll a few down the green as part of their annual weekly pilgrimage where they visit different clubs around the state. The visitors were kind enough to present their Walcha opponents with a stubby holder and a pen, but the real highlight was when they shouted them lunch as well. DON’T forget the Walcha Pool opens this Saturday at 11am and at the time of going to print, the water was running at a refreshing 24 degrees celsius. Come along to the pool for your first dip of the season.

Walcha What's the Goss? Georgie’s cracker of an error

What's in a name?: Cross Counter crosses the line in the 2018 Melbourne Cup.

The yolk’s on you

HEARD a whisper Walcha Central School teacher Georgie Macdiarmid was driving to school recently when she decided to eat one of the hard-boiled eggs she had prepared before leaving home. The musical director of the school production Dr Seussical cracked the egg on the steering wheel of her car and immediately found out the egg wasn’t hard-boiled at all. Suddenly, she had a slight mess in her lap.

Pass the parcel

EARLIER in the week, urban works supervisor Stephen Sweeney approached me with a parcel addressed to me at the pool, but when i opened the wrapper bag, found an empty padded bag inside with a note from the Cancer Council.

BEFORE reading the note, Steph told me to pull the bag apart because there was definitely something in it and not to pussyfoot around like a girl and get into it. When I ripped the bag apart, all the padding fell out and then, when I read the letter accompanying the bag, the request was to send some discontinued Sun Sound equipment back to the department in the bag provided. And did the Golden Haired Wonder Child think that was funny.

Cross-purposes

EARLY last week, when quizzed about my selection in the Melbourne Cup by much-better half Linda and son Ben, the reply was Cross Counter of course, due to our surname. That was on Monday evening, and by Tuesday, nothing had changed except for one little thing.

AROUND 2.45pm on Tuesday, just before the “race that stops the nation” jumped, water and sewer operator Ron Partridge called in at the pool and mentioned something about the Melbourne Cup. Immediately, I realised the great race had been forgotten, and it was now too late to get a bet on.

WHEN Ben arrived home from work, he strolled through the back door looking slightly excited and asked me how much I had won, which prompted the reply, “Don’t start – I forgot to have a bet”. His counter-reply was, “Don’t worry, I picked up $150”, which made the whole situation so much better.

As it turned out, the crutch Jayne was talking about was one of those ones you put under your arm to assist with balance.

LUCKILY, things improved last Saturday when I invested a few dollars on Santa Ana Lane in race 7 at Flemington. That was for no other reason than a lovely young lady by the name of Anna Lane works in the engineering department of Walcha Council. Santa Ana Lane snuck home and paid a healthy dividend.

Dialling in

DURING recent times, Andrew “the Chocolate Frogman” Kerr was sitting at the bar in the Apsley Arms Hotel when a nearby unattended phone rung just down from where he was seated. Quick as a flash, Chocy’s immediate response was, “Don’t worry, that will be Coog trying to find his phone”. He was spot on – I had left it there shortly beforehand and then headed home.

Double-take

WHEN my youngest sister Jayne told me she had broken one of her toes after kicking herself in her crutch, my immedate reaction was that I didn’t think she was quite that flexible. As it turned out, the crutch Jayne was talking about was one of those ones you put under your arm to assist with balance.

Try again, Pete

LOCAL car salesman Peter Norbury had a bit of trouble getting into his car in Pakington Street last week. Apparently, Pete had been deep in conversation with someone and when the yarn terminated, he must have still been focussed on the content of the conversation because he attempted to climb into the vehicle of Linmac Engineering chief executive officer John Cross, and not his own.

Straight off the bat

ONE of Walcha Council’s newest recruits, Deon Lawrence, found himself “batless" the other day while carrying out traffic control duties along the Oxley Highway. While putting up the appropriate warning signs, supervisor Peter Griffiths placed a “stop/slow” bat around the area of road “Longhandle” was going to be operating from.

BEFORE commencing his traffic control duties, “Longhandle” drove Pete to another part of the job but, on return, he was unable to locate his bat and mentioned the fact to his offsider Chris Green at the other end of the traffic job by walkie-talkie. Shortly after that, Pete arrived back to assist “Longhandle” locate the elusive bat and everyone lived happily ever after.

Karauh on tour

LAST week, a touring team of Karauh lawn bowlers called in at Walcha to roll a few down the green as part of their annual weekly pilgrimage where they visit different clubs around the state. The visitors were kind enough to present their Walcha opponents with a stubby holder and a pen, but the real highlight was when they shouted them lunch as well.

Time for a dip

DON’T forget the Walcha Pool opens this Saturday at 11am and at the time of going to print, the water was running at a refreshing 24 degrees celsius. Come along to the pool for your first dip of the season.